The Shadow Men
by NoCleverSig
Summary: COMPLETE! When Druitt begins seeing shadow figures that no one else can see, the Sanctuary Team wonders if he's going insane...or worse... returning to his Ripper ways.  No. 13 in No Destination in Mind series or Stands Alone
1. Chapter 1: Figures in the Dark

**Author's Note: **No. 13 in the "No Destination in Mind" series or can stand alone without reading all of that. :) The whole team is involved in this one! Going to keep it teen rated as much as possible so all can enjoy. Of course, I own nothing of Sanctuary or its characters. My words, however, are my own. **Please review and let me know what you think!** Will be posting chapter 2 soon! :) Thanks as always for reading! Peace. NCS

**The Shadow Men  
**Chapter 1: Figures in the Dark  
(Copyright 2011, NoCleverSig)

The knock on Will Zimmerman's door was bold and precise just like the man who delivered it.

Will looked up from his file to see John Druitt, dark slacks, grey shirt, blue eyes, standing in his doorway. The team had returned from Guatemala and their encounter with the mysterious Kukulkan nearly three months earlier. Since then, life at the Sanctuary had, more or less, returned to normal. Druitt, who'd been freed from his energy creature by Tesla the year before, was once again a member of the Sanctuary team and working side by side with Kate. The partnership was as productive as it was endearing. Henry had taken up where he'd left off, teaching John about the Sanctuary's computer systems. Even the Big Guy had started to warm up to him, perhaps smacking him a bit harder than necessary on the back of his bald head, but still smacking him nonetheless.

And of course, there was Magnus.

Druitt and she had reunited in the jungles of Guatemala, although Magnus kept the details of their reunion to herself. The two, Will thought, were like rare-earth magnets; the attraction so strong it generated a field of energy that was almost palpable to those around them.

All Will knew and all that Magnus would tell him was that she'd forgiven John and that his clothes were back in her closet.

Will had grinned at that revelation, and Magnus had too. He knew full well how much the head of the Sanctuary Network valued her personal space. To admit that she was once again sharing her room with John Druitt said everything Will needed to know about the state of their relationship.

"Do you have a moment, William?" Druitt asked, his deep voice resonating. Looking at who he was now it was hard, even for Will who had spent countless hours counseling the man, to imagine the depths of violence Druitt had once committed.

"Sure. Come in," Will motioned with his hand and scooted his chair back to move around the table and join John on the couch. John closed the door behind him and signaled for Will to stay put. He did, and Druitt pulled up a chair in front of Will's desk.

"Don't get up, William. I know you're busy. The number of new intakes is remarkably high these past few months. It appears Helen has found a renewed sense of purpose," Druitt smiled.

Will chuckled. "You could say that." What Will and John both knew was that Magnus was happy, and that translated into a variety of things including, oddly enough, more work for everyone.

"What can I do for you? Trouble with the new Xenophobes?" Will asked. He knew the capture had been a rough one for Druitt and Kate despite their abilities and speed.

John shook his head. Something in Druitt's expression, his demeanor, made Will uneasy.

"What's wrong?" Will asked, learning forward, concern on his face.

Druitt flashed him a quick smile. "You read people well."

"It's what Magnus pays me for, and under the circumstances it's not that difficult. We've been working together for awhile now. Have the nightmares come back?"

Months ago, when Tesla first rid Druitt of the energy creature, the gravity of the Ripper's crimes had come crashing down on John. Consequently he suffered almost continuous nightmares that left him screaming and shaking in the dark. Although the entity that possessed his body was gone, its crimes had been forever burned into John's consciousness. Will was the only one able to help Druitt work through it, and although John might never be able to sleep soundly, at least he slept.

"Not exactly, no."

Will waited a beat. He'd counseled the man long enough to know to let him take the lead. John Druitt came from another time and place, and opening up about his feelings, his fears, wasn't exactly his strong suit.

John held his hands as if in prayer. After a moment, he began talking.

"Something has been happening to me, William. Something I can't explain…can't put my finger on. At first I dismissed it as nothing…the stress of the last few months, Helen's abduction, my departure," he added sheepishly. "But now…I'm not so sure." He paused. "Frankly, I'm afraid."

From someone else the admission might have had less impact. From John Druitt, it was positively jaw dropping

"Of what?" Will asked, trying not to act as concerned as he was beginning to feel.

"Of slipping. Of becoming what I once was."

Will nodded his head in understanding. They'd had this conversation before, albeit early in John's days at the Sanctuary. "You and I have discussed this. You were violated andpossessed, John." Will said, waving his hand in the air. "You didn't commit those crimes, the creature inside you did. You were a vessel, a pawn. If it hadn't have been for you, the creature may have killed more…maybe thousands. You kept it at bay."

"Small comfort, particularly to those I did kill…and their families," Druitt sighed, his eyes dropping.

Will nodded. "I know. But you understand what I'm saying."

"I do, William. But that's not what I'm talking about this time." He scooted forward resting his clasped hands on Will's desk. "I know I could never commit such heinous acts on my own. It is not in my nature. You convinced me of that."

Will nodded.

"But what," he hesitated. "What if it were to happen again?"

Will cocked his head. "I'm not sure I'm following you, John."

Druitt sat back, obviously gathering his thoughts.

"What if I was to become haunted once more, William?" he whispered.

Will leaned back in his chair, hands folded. For some reason the hair on the back of his neck stood on end and he shivered. "Magnus has taken precautions. The drugs you're taking…" he countered.

John nodded his head. "Are designed to make my cellular structure unappealing, shall we say, to creatures of that sort, yes, I understand. Helen and I have discussed the theory behind her and Tesla's creation. But what….what if it isn't working?"

There it was, Will thought, the root of whatever it was that was bothering Druitt.

"What's happening, John?"

Druitt looked at him and swallowed hard, obviously hesitant, fearful even.

"I'm seeing things, William. Things that shouldn't be there."

"Such as?"

"Shadows. Figures. Dark shapes. From the corner of my eye. But when I turn to look, they're gone."

Will narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure they aren't dreams?"

Druitt shook his head and stood up, pacing the floor, jamming his hands into his pockets.

"At first I thought they were, since it happens only at night. Some sort of waking dream perhaps? But over the past week it's happened more and more often, now during the day as well when I'm fully awake. I see a figure, a dark shape, just out of my peripheral vision, but when I turn to look…." John shook his head and leaned his forehead against his arm gazing out the Sanctuary window. "They're gone. I'm not sure they were ever there in the first place."

Will started to speak, but John turned around, cutting him off.

"What if I'm going insane William? What if the creature's possession of my body for so long left some sort of permanent psychological damage? What if what I'm seeing is a similar creature wanting to repossess me? What if…"

Will stood up and raised his hands. "Whoa, hold on a second. First off, that's a lot of 'what ifs.' Second, nothing that you've just told me leads me to believe you're going insane. How long has this been happening?"

"Almost two weeks now."

"Have these figures tried to attack you? Approach you in any way?"

Druitt shook his head. "No. It's as though they're watching me…waiting."

Will walked around from behind the desk to stand in front of John. "If they'd wanted to possess you, don't you think they'd have tried it by now?"

John nodded. "Perhaps."

Will leaned against the edge of his desk. If he were calm, perhaps John would follow suit. "There could be a lot of explanations for what's happening to you including physiological ones. We should get your eyes examined, and some neurological scans done. And of course, there's always the possibility that there is some sort of Abnormal at play here."

John looked up at that. "But no one else has seen it."

"As far as we know. We don't know that for sure. We need to check, interview some of the residents, see if they've noticed or sensed anything unusual. But first we need to rule out the most plausible explanations, and that involves testing. Have you told Magnus about this?"

John shook his head emphatically and paced the room again. "No. The last thing I want to do is worry Helen, not after…well after everything that's happened."

Will bit his lip and nodded. "I understand, but you're going to have to tell her. She'll need to conduct the tests. And if you're concerned that the medicine she's giving you isn't working, she needs to know that too."

Druitt sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I know. I just…" he turned to look back at Will.

"Tomorrow night is an anniversary of sorts. April 24, the day we would have…Well, let's just say it's special and leave it at that," he said enigmatically. "Anyway, Helen and I have a date planned, and I have a gift for her as well. Can it wait until after ?"

Will wanted to say no. Magnus needed to know what was going on and she needed to know right now. What if the drugs weren't working? What if there was some sort of undetected Abnormal loose in the Sanctuary? Or worse yet, what if Druitt was right? What if he was going insane?

Magnus could be at risk. They all could.

He might get fired over this, or worse, but Will found himself nodding, giving in to John' request. "Okay. One day, but that's it. We'll go see her together the day after tomorrow…first thing in the morning," he added for emphasis. Will put his hand on Druitt's shoulder. "We'll work through this, John. I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for what's happening here."

Druitt smiled and nodded.

He wasn't convinced.

* * *

"Oh, Johnny, you did gooooood!"

Kate Freelander oohed and awwed at the sparkling piece of jewelry peeking out from the velvet box in her hand. Druitt had just picked it up from the jeweler that morning and planned to give it to Helen that evening at the conclusion of their special date.

"Do you really think so Miss Freelander? Do you suppose Helen…Dr. Magnus," Druitt corrected himself, "Will like it?"

Kate closed the box, looked up at Druitt, and put her hands on his shoulders, catching him off guard.

"She will love it, and she will love you even more so for going to all the trouble to fix it. Seriously, Johnny, it's…" Kate shrugged. "It's extraordinary…" she sighed. "Damn, I wish I had an old school romantic like you in my life," she mumbled absently.

"You don't think it'll bring back…bad memories?" He asked hesitantly.

Kate shook her head. "Nope. Not in the least. Fresh start, that's what this is all about. She'll get that."

John grinned, pleased with himself. "Good, I was hoping that is how she would see it."

"Excuse me. Am I interrupting?"

Helen Magnus walked through the doorway into the new intake holding area with arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

John turned to look at her and grinned, knowing full well how the scene might appear to any other lover. He also knew that Helen would know better. Kate, however, was less informed.

"Nope, not interrupting a thing. Nothing going on here. Zilch. Nada," she said in hasty succession yanking her hands off of Druitt so fast he might as well have been electrified. She tucked the velvet box behind her back, hands clasped.

Magnus nodded, trying to look slightly cross while doing her best to fight off a wicked grin.

"Well, if you two are finished with…whatever it is that you were doing, I'd like a word with John, please."

Kate paled. "Sure. Fine. No problem. I'll just be...uh," she pointed her thumb toward the stairs. "Out of here. Johnny I'll give you back that *thing* in a few." She rushed out as fast as possible.

Helen walked over to John, lavender dress swishing, heels clicking, and hips swaying. Druitt smiled, not only because he found her game amusing but also because, as usual, she took his breath away.

"Should I even ask?" Helen asked when she got a foot away from him.

John stuck his hands in his pockets. "I was seeking Miss Freelander's advice on a topic of peculiar female interest and, as usual, she became a bit overenthusiastic, that's all."

Helen laughed. "So I don't have to vie for your attention or, God forbid, fire her. Good help is so hard to come by these days," she frowned playfully.

"No, I think we're fine on all counts. How are you, my dear?" He reached up and held her arms loosely, caressing them with his thumb. "Tired?" he smirked, eyebrows raised.

Helen looked up at him and grinned. "My, we are full of ourselves this morning aren't we Mr. Druitt?"

He gave her a cocky look. "Just trying to make sure I pleased my lady last night."

He could have sworn he saw a faint blush sweep across Helen's face, but it was gone so quickly, he couldn't be sure.

"Your lady," she emphasized the words, "was quite pleased and intends to return the favor tonight, which is what I'm here to talk to you about."

"Oh?" he asked surprised.

"I have a conference call with Declan late this afternoon and it might run over. He's staying up well past his bed time so we can talk about the situation with the UN. I hate to cut him short. Would it be all right if we pushed our reservation back an hour?"

"Certainly," John nodded. "I'll call the restaurant."

Helen smiled, reached up, and kissed him on the cheek. She didn't abide for public displays of affection, particularly in front of her staff. But since she'd scared off the only one in the vicinity, well…

"Good, then I'll see you tonight?"

"You most certainly will."

Magnus turned to walk away, then stopped suddenly and turned back around, her long brunette hair sweeping over her shoulders as she did so.

"Oh, and John?"

"Yes dear?"

"Tell Kate to keep her hands off of my boyfriend." She smiled sweetly and left the room.

John Druitt laughed.

_(to be continued…)_


	2. Chapter 2: Diamonds & Blood

**Author's Note: **No. 13 in the "No Destination in Mind" series or can stand alone without reading all of that. :) The whole team is involved in this one! Going to keep it teen rated as much as possible so all can enjoy. Thanks to MajorSam for beta! Of course, I own nothing of Sanctuary or its characters. My words, however, are my own. **Please review and let me know what you think!** :) Thanks as always for reading! Peace. NCS

**The Shadow Men  
**Chapter 2: Diamonds and Blood  
(Copyright 2011, NoCleverSig)

Dinner was at an Italian restaurant not far from the Sanctuary. It was a small, family owned place that had been one of Helen's favorite for years. Now it was a favorite of Helen and John's and, as usual, the owners made sure the two had their preferred table. It was a cozy, corner spot, lit only by candles. The entire restaurant was nothing but candles with soft music and soft voices, which is why Helen loved it so. They had had their first real "date" there almost a year ago, and since that time it hadn't lost its appeal.

They ate, drank wine, and shared a dessert. And throughout it all, the conversation, the pasta, the red zinfandel, they couldn't keep their eyes, or their hands, off each other. Helen had thought the novelty of being together again might pass with time, but surprisingly (and pleasantly) it hadn't.

To an outside observer, they were discreet. Simply two people, obviously intimate, enjoying dinner and one another's company. But Helen and John knew better. Every look, every gentle touch of their hands was a communication between them. A sub textual conversation so intense, Helen thought her heart might burst.

She was happy, insanely so. John and she had gone through hell and back again, several times, and had emerged, if not unscathed, at least together. Not many couples could make that boast.

They spent the evening in quiet conversation discussing world events, Sanctuary business, and reminiscing about years past, including Ashley. John enjoyed hearing Helen talk about their daughter's childhood. He could see it in his mind's eye as surely as if he had been there himself, and that offered him some small comfort for the fact that he never had. Helen glimpsed it in his expression, his smile, how much he enjoyed these windows into her and Ashley's past, and the truth was it no longer pained her to discuss it. The stories, the memories, seemed to bring their daughter back to life if only for a moment, and both he and Helen found joy in that.

The one subject they never spoke of, however, were the dark days, the days when John became possessed and transformed into the Ripper. They had had that conversation early on in their relationship, and in Helen's mind, it was said and done. What John thought about it she didn't know and frankly was hesitant to ask.

Still, one subject weighed heavily on both their minds tonight. It was the very reason for their evening out, yet neither one had yet brought it up. Perhaps it was because it marked a bittersweet anniversary of sorts. Or perhaps it was because it skirted too close to the edge of the dark times Helen and John avoided discussing. They both knew the date and its significance, and each was waiting for the other to acknowledge it.

_April 24. _The day, 122 years ago, they were to be married.

It was a day Helen marked, at the time, with a heavy dose of absinthe and laudanum to ease the pain. And here they were more than a hundred years later, in a small Italian restaurant in New City celebrating the very event that never happened. It made Helen suddenly laugh out loud. Life was nothing if not full of surprises.

"Are you all right my dear?" John asked a tad shocked at her sudden outburst. He hadn't said anything particularly clever in the last few minutes.

Helen dipped her head and took another sip of Zinfandel. "I'm fine, John. Just amused. Do you know what I was doing on this night 122 years ago?"

John hesitated to ask, so Helen continued.

"Getting high."

He raised his eyebrows at that.

Helen nodded, feeling a tad loose from the wine and went on.

"I had three glasses of absinthe that evening. I was testing Oscar's theory. You remember the one, don't you?"

Druitt nodded, recollecting with some embarrassment a dinner party he and Helen had attended with Oscar Wilde and his wife. It was the night John introduced Helen to the wonders of "the green fairy" and an evening that hinted at the darkness growing within him.

"Oscar said," she went on when John didn't speak, "After the first glass you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.' Of course, I laced mine with laudanum so the effect was…quite stirring."

Druitt nearly jumped out of his chair, his tall frame draped over the table. "Helen! My God, you could have died!"

She gazed at him with wine in hand. "At the time, it didn't seem to matter, John," she replied quietly.

He didn't know what to say to that. "I'm sorry," was far too inadequate.

The evening had turned suddenly morose, not at all how John had wanted this night to be. Should he proceed with the present he had intended to give her? What if Kate was wrong and it only added to Helen's pain? Dear God, he wished he hadn't had suggested this dinner at all. In hindsight, it was an egotistical and insensitive idea.

"John," Helen reached over and grabbed his hand, startling him out of his reverie. "I didn't mean to upset you. I only wanted you to know how much our engagement meant to me. It still does. There hasn't been a year gone by that I haven't stopped and thought of you, of us, on this date. And the fact that we can spend it together now?" she smiled and squeezed his hand. "There are very few events in this world I would classify as 'miracles,' but this, I would say, is one of them."

Helen leaned across the table and did something the she rarely did in public. She kissed him. "I love you," she whispered into his ear, and she slid her cheek against his and pulled away, still grasping his hand tight.

He clasped her hand tighter in return, speechless. He'd put this woman through hell. Whether he had intended it or not, and whether he or the creature that had possessed him was to blame or not was of little consequence. All that mattered was that she had suffered by his hand, and yet, she could sit here with him tonight, on the anniversary of a marriage that never happened, and tell him that his presence with her was a miracle? He didn't deserve this, didn't deserve her. But here she was.

He reached into his pocket, suddenly overcome with emotion. He couldn't find the words to tell her how much she meant to him. He hoped his gift would suffice.

"Helen, I have something for you. I wasn't sure, to be honest, whether it was appropriate but…" He extended his hand across the table and handed her the small velvet box. "I hope you will accept it in the spirit in which it is given, with my love and devotion."

Helen let go of John's hands and took the box, stroking the soft velvet surface between her fingers. She looked up at him, puzzled. "John?" she asked curiously, tilting her head.

He smiled and leaned back. "You have to open it to find out." He was nervous as a schoolboy and trying his best not to show it.

She grinned, dipped her head, opened the lid, and gasped.

Positively gasped.

It was her engagement ring, or more precisely, a duplicate of the one she had owned. The one John had given to her 123 years ago. The one that madman had destroyed when he'd kidnapped her and crushed her hand in revenge for John's murder of his wife. It was white gold with a glowing, oval opal in the center surrounded by tiny diamonds. How could John possibly have…?

"I had it recast, from what little remained," John answered, guessing the questions flowing through her mind. "When Henry went back to the building where they…kept you," he hesitated, "he found some of the diamonds from your ring scattered on the floor. He brought them back. I asked the jeweler to include those in the setting. The opal had to be replaced, so that's new, but it's as close to the original as I could find. And the ring…I took the gold from what was left of yours and had it melted and recast. I tried to make it as similar to the original setting as I could from my memory of it…" He knew he was stammering trying to fill the empty silence that had followed his presentation.

He couldn't read her reaction. Did she hate it? Did it bring back only painful memories of those terrible hours when she was kidnapped and tortured, or did it do what he hoped it would do; show that nothing, NOTHING, could destroy their love. He held his breath, waiting for an answer.

"Helen," he finally choked out. "Say something. Anything."

She looked down at the ring glistening in its velvet box and tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I don't know what to say, John. I'm…" she hesitated then looked up at him. "It's beautiful. More than I could have ever imagined. It's…" she paused, obviously choked up. "You did this for me?" she looked up at him, eyes glistening.

"For us," he corrected her.

She smiled and nodded. "Of course," she whispered. She slipped it out of its box and onto her hand. Over the finger, the hand, that had been almost destroyed by anger and revenge. Somehow John must have known to make it bigger, the swelling in her ring finger would never heal. It fit perfectly.

"I know we agreed not to marry, Helen, but, as I said once before, I would be honored if you were to wear it as a token of my affection for you," Druitt whispered.

Helen smiled, the tears ending now. She wasn't one for emotional scenes, but this…this was special. Special indeed.

"Of course, John. I'll treasure it always. Is this what you were discussing with Kate the other day when I interrupted you?"

"It was."

"And?"

"She said you would love it."

"Clever girl," Helen smiled.

She looked down at her hand, slightly crooked now from the surgery that had been done to repair it. Yet with the ring upon it, it somehow looked beautiful again. Elegant. Complete. How strange life was that it could turn so quickly from sorrow to joy and back again.

John glanced down at this watch, shocked at how fast the time had passed. "My dear, I hate to rush you, but if we don't leave soon we'll be late for the opening act," John said.

Helen looked up at him and grinned mischievously. She leaned forward, her hair draping over her shoulders, her eyes wide and seductive. Her chest bent just so that John had a perfect view down the front of her dress and her ample cleavage. She reached over with both her hands and enveloped his, her left hand on top, the ring sparkling in the candlelight.

"I have another idea," she whispered in that oh-so-tempting bedroom voice of hers. "Perhaps we should get the check and return home."

John could feel his body tingling. "But we have tickets for the theatre?" he reminded her playfully, knowing exactly where Helen's mind was going.

"Twelfth Night. Yes, I've seen it, as have you if I recall correctly. I'm more in the mood for a different kind of entertainment. I think we can skip this one, don't you agree?"

"I agree most heartily, Ms. Magnus. I do indeed."

* * *

Helen Magnus lay naked and asleep, her face buried in the crook of Druitt's arm. John lay awake beside her, absently stroking Helen's long, dark hair. As tired as he was from the long day and their numerous nocturnal encounters, he couldn't sleep. Couldn't stop thinking…

He would never get used to this, never. The feel of Helen's body pressed against his. The softness of her hair, like silk. The scent of her perfume, still a preference for Chanel after all these years. Her smile as he kissed her neck, her breasts. Her quiet gasps as he entered her. The way her nails trailed down his back as they made love. The way her breathing sped up, her face flushed, her eyes grew heavy, her hips rocked, and she murmured his name, God's, and several other lesser deities all in one sentence as she crashed around him.

How had he lived so long without this?

Whatever it took. Whatever he had to do, he would never let go of her again. Never.

That's when he saw it. A shadowy figure. From the corner of his eye it moved from left to right, a solid, black mass, denser and darker than the blackness around it. It hovered in front of their closet door, to the left of their bed, as tall as a human being but with no substance, no form, just an inky darkness. John wanted to nudge Helen awake, get her to see what he was seeing. Verify that he wasn't going insane. But he knew the moment he tried it, it would vanish, and he'd lose the opportunity forever.

Instead, he lay perfectly still and feigned sleep. He closed his eyes until they were mere slits, tracking it as best he could with his peripheral vision.

For several seconds the shadow did nothing. It simply hovered there near their closet, immobile. Finally, it moved. Slowly at first, then faster toward their bed. John's eyes flashed opened. He turned to look at it, and it darted away across the vanity toward the door and into the sitting quarters in front of their bedchambers.

Quickly John released his arm from around Helen, grabbed the switchblade he kept in the drawer by the bed, and hurried to the door. He opened it, catching only a faint glimpse of utter darkness in the room beyond. For a brief moment he saw it head on. A tall, black, mass, the size and vague figure of a person. It stood there, facing him, then vanished, slipping through the outer door and into the hallway.

John ran through the darkened room, tripping over a chair and sending it crashing to the ground. He reached the door and threw it open. The hallway was dimly lit and empty. He looked from left to right when he saw something move, an inky dark shape going swiftly around the corner. He took off after it, blade in hand, rounded the hallway, closed his eyes, and jumped, crashing down upon the entity, slicing it clean with his blade.

When he opened them again the creature lay limp before him, its dark eyes staring up at him in confusion.

"John?" Henry whispered.

"Oh my god…" John gasped, realizing with horror the mistake he'd just made. He looked down at his shaking hand and saw it, blood pouring from Henry's side, his shirt, his hands, the carpet covered in it.

"Someone! Anyone! Help!" John screamed. "No…no…no…." John shook his head, putting his hands on Henry's wound trying to stem the bleeding, rocking his body back and forth.

Will, Kate, and the Big Guy ran down the hallway at breakneck speed and stopped dead in their tracks. Helen followed behind them, red silk kimono hastily thrown on to cover her.

"What the bloody hell…" she started, then froze.

There in front of her on bended knees sat John Druitt, switchblade in hand as he pressed his palms against the flow of blood, looming over Henry Foss' broken body.

Her face paled. She couldn't move. Couldn't think. Finally she looked down at Henry and back up at John. There was only one word for the expression that swept across her features, John thought fleetingly.

_Devastation._

"Helen, no, it's not what it seems…" John shook his head.

Quickly she snapped out of it and ran to Henry, shoving John out of her way. The Big Guy came up and grabbed Druitt, the switchblade fell to the floor by Helen's feet.

"Someone give me a towel, a shirt, anything!" she yelled.

Will tore off his shirt and handed it to her. She wadded it up and placed it on Henry's side. "You'll be all right, Henry," she said, gently, stroking his face. "You'll be all right," she repeated.

She turned to Will and Kate. "Keep the pressure on the wound and take him to the infirmary. I'll meet you there."

"What are you going to do?" Kate asked, reaching down to help Will grab Henry.

Magnus picked up the tablet Henry had dropped and pulled up the security protocols. "I'm activating the EM shield."

"But Doc, there's no way John would have…"

Magnus looked up at her, a blank stare on her face. "Get him to the infirmary now. DO IT!" she shouted.

Kate nodded and she and Will picked up Henry as gently as they could and hurried down the hallway toward the elevator.

Magnus turned to the Big Guy. "Take him to a holding cell."

John looked at her, blood on his hands, his chest, his black, silk pants.

"Helen, you can't believe I…this is a terrible mistake…I would never…"

"I'll deal with you later," she hissed, and the Big Guy dragged him away.

She looked down at the blood soaked carpet, the switchblade, her reddened hands and closed her eyes, collapsing against the wall for a second only to straighten herself, run down the hallway to the elevator, and fly into the infirmary ready to save Henry's life.

She washed her hands, prepping for surgery, and removed the opal ring.

Its diamond stones were splattered with blood.

_(to be continued)_


	3. Chapter 3: Confessions

**Author's Note: **Thanks as always to the best beta ever, MajorSam, for her keen insights and quick turnaround. (Yes, flattery will get me anywhere ;) I own nothing of Sanctuary or its characters. My words, however, are indeed my own. Enjoy, and PLEASE REVIEW! Chapter 4 coming soon…

**The Shadow Men  
**Chapter 3: Confessions  
(Copyright 2011, NoCleverSig)

Will Zimmerman pushed through the infirmary doors frantically scanning the room for Helen Magnus. He found her, dark hair pulled back, green scrubs on just leaving Henry Foss's sleeping side. The Big Guy was checking Henry's vitals, standing over his friend like a hairy, protective angel.

"How is he?" Will asked, nervously glancing over his shoulder at Henry and following Magnus to the sink as she washed her hands. She looked up at the ring she'd left on the counter.

"He'll be all right, thank god," she answered, scrubbing her hands longer than was necessary and staring at the flowing water, anything to avoid eye contact with Will. "He lost a great deal of blood but, fortunately, the knife didn't penetrate any internal organs. Henry heals fast, given his unique physiology. Barring infection or some other unforeseen circumstance, he should recover fairly quickly."

Magnus wouldn't look at him. It was obvious. She was upset and worried, certainly, but there was something else. Something she didn't want him to see. It didn't take a psychiatrist to guess what that something might be.

"That's good. That's really good. And how are _you_ doing?" he prodded gently.

She finished washing her hands, took the ring off the counter, and cleansed it with soap under the hot, steaming water. "Are you asking me if I'm tired? How I'm feeling about this evening? Or what I think about John trying to kill my adopted son?"

Will dug his hands into his jean pockets, surprised at her frank response. "All of the above?"

She spun around and faced him, heat in her eyes. "Not too well, Will. Not too well at all."

"Magnus, Druitt wouldn't purposefully…."

"Don't! " She raised a hand up in front of her chest forcing Will to step back. "Don't even try to make excuses for him! Every time…every single time…," she hesitated, the anger clear in her voice. She shook her head finally putting her hands on her hips. "Whenever I give him the benefit of the doubt, allow him back into my life, just when I believe things are, God forbid, normal…." She stopped, closed her eyes, and put a hand to her head. Will stood there watching her, silent. Helen took a deep breath, pulled her hand back down and opened it, staring at the opal and diamond ring John had given her earlier that evening.

_God damn it!_

She couldn't stay here anymore. Couldn't stand here and speak to Will. She needed to leave. Get away, quickly, before she fell apart, before the tears she had been on the verge of shedding all night came pouring out of her. If she was going to cry, and she knew she had little choice in the matter, she'd do it in private, without witnesses, thank you very much.

_God damn John Druitt! God damn him to bloody hell!_

She shoved the ring into her pocket, turned on her heels, and walked as fast as she could to the small infirmary office.

He knew it was the last thing she wanted, but Will followed her. He had no choice.

He turned the corner and saw her sitting at her desk, laptop in front of her, head bowed and bent against her folded hands. She looked like she was praying. Maybe she was. He leaned against the door jamb, not saying a word, and waited.

"I don't want to talk about this right now," she announced after a few moments.

She didn't turn around, but he could tell from the sound of her voice, the way she was carrying herself, the trembling in her shoulders that she was crying. It wasn't a sight he was used to seeing.

"Magnus, I'm sorry, but we need to talk. There's something I need to tell…."

She spun in her chair. "Not now, Will! Please…"

Will's face fell. Helen's eyes were red, her cheeks wet with tears. She turned back around and buried her face in the palm of her hands, her body shaking.

Will Zimmerman was at a loss. Helen Magnus in tears was a jarring sight. He answered his uncertainty by doing the first thing he thought of, taking the action most natural to him.

He walked up, knelt down, and put his arms around her.

She bristled at his touch, sitting so still, so rigid, Will was afraid his instinct had been off, that he was pushing her away instead of pulling her out of her misery. But after a moment she reached her arms around his waist, buried her head into the side of his neck, and let go, sobbing in his arms so hard, so intense, all he could do was hold her and hang on.

She cried a long time. The tears flooded out of her, choking Will with their magnitude. Was she crying for John, he wondered? Henry? Ashley? James? God, the list could go on and on, Will realized with sudden clarity. Immortality was every human being's dream, yet it was Helen Magnus' nightmare.

After a time, she quieted. Still she clung to him, so he did too, holding her tight.

"Magnus?" he eventually whispered in her ear. It was one word, only her name, but it meant so much more. It was a question, a statement, a promise: _Are you alright? What can I do? What can I say? How can I help?_

She pulled back and looked at him, her blue eyes swimming in a sea of red, her face and cheeks glistening with tears. She closed her eyes and nodded, wiping her face with her hands. "I'm all right, Will. I'm all right….Thank you," she added with a slight smile that was meant to reassure him, if not herself. He smiled back, playing along. She was far from all right, he knew it, but for the first time in the three years since he'd known her she had let herself be completely vulnerable in front of him and that, at least, was a start.

He got up, walked over to the cabinet, grabbed a box of tissue, and brought it back to the table, pulling up a seat next to hers. She nodded and smiled at him again, taking the tissue and wiping her eyes, her nose, pulling the pieces of herself back together that she had allowed to spill out so honestly in front of him. He'd give her time to do that before he told her, before he had to face, what he was sure, would be a very different reaction from Magnus.

When she seemed composed, he took a deep breath, looked her straight in the eye, and began.

"Magnus, there's something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you as soon as it happened, but….Damn it," he swore under his breath to himself.

Helen narrowed her eyes. "What is it?"

He couldn't stall any longer. He had to let her know. Might as well just come out and say it.

"John came to me yesterday afternoon," Will paused. "Magnus, you know that I don't disclose doctor-patient discussions, not private ones, but this was different. I told him he needed to talk to you, tell you what was going on. I agreed to go with him."

He could see her demeanor change, the tension build.

"What are you talking about, Will?" she asked shaking her head in confusion. "What did John tell you?"

Will took a deep breath, knowing the fury his confession would likely unleash. "Druitt came to talk to me because he said he was afraid he was going insane."

Helen snapped to attention. "What?"

"For the past couple of weeks he's been…seeing things," he told her hurriedly. "He described them as shadows, dark shapes, out of the corner of his eye. But when he turned to look they were gone. At first he thought he was dreaming, but then he began to see them during the day too. He was…afraid, Magnus. Afraid that maybe the energy creature had left him psychologically scarred or…"

"Or what?" Helen demanded.

"Or that what he was seeing was real. Magnus, John was afraid he was being stalked by a similar creature. He was afraid he was going to be possessed again."

Magnus' jaw dropped. A mix of emotions crossed her face, shock, fear, concern, surprise, and then finally anger.

She flew out of her chair, standing up so quickly she knocked it over, her fists clenched.

"And you're just telling me this now? Tonight? After John tried to murder Henry? Will, what the hell were you thinking!" she yelled at him.

Will stood up to face her. "John asked me to wait a day. One day," he explained, his hands open wide in despair. "He said he had a special evening planned with you, something he wanted to tell you or give you, I don't remember which. I agreed because it seemed important to him, because I thought…I hoped, one day wouldn't matter….Obviously, I was wrong."

"Obviously!" Helen shouted, pacing the room now. She was angry, furious so enraged she was shaking. Will was her protégé. She trusted him with everything, EVERYTHING. The entire Sanctuary network, her life's work was in his hands should anything happen to her. How could he have made such a terrible error in judgment?

"You should have come to me the moment John told you this!" she yelled, pointing her finger at him. "The very moment! You know that don't you?"

"Yes."

"Your decision…your lack of judgment could have cost Henry his life, you understand that?"

"Yes."

She stopped her pacing and stood in front of him. He looked at her, and then cast his eyes down at his feet, his hands in his pockets again. She gazed back at him and tilted her head. "God damn it, Will," she said softly.

They stood silently.

"I'm sorry, Magnus, I don't know what else to say. You're right. I was wrong." She started to interrupt him but he stopped her with a hand to her arm. "But my gut, my instinct tells me he's not unbalanced. He was perfectly rational when he spoke to me. Worried, fearful, certainly, but perfectly sane. There's something else going on, here, Magnus, something else at play."

"What?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. I can't put my finger on it. All I know is John never meant to hurt Henry, I'm almost positive of that."

"Almost," she snapped.

He looked at her sheepishly. The both grew silent again.

"He's on medication," she finally said more calmly now, thinking out loud. "Cellular inhibitors to keep energy Abnormals, or anything similar, from invading his body. I know he's been taking the treatments. You don't think….?"

"That they're not working?" Will shook his head. "I don't know. I don't know what's going on. But I don't think he's insane. And I don't think he's possessed. You've known him longer than I have." He knew it was a terrible understatement when he said it. "But it's not the same. I don't know what it is, Magnus, but I think something else is happening."

She crossed her arms and looked at him. "We need to talk to John."

Will nodded. "Yes. Yes we do."

* * *

Magnus took a deep breath and punched in the security code. She entered the cell with Will following behind her. Biggie had wanted to go in too, to make sure she was protected. When she told him no, he insisted on monitoring the conversation from outside via the video link, leaving Kate to watch over Henry. She agreed to that.

John was sitting on the cot when they walked in, still shirtless and barefoot. His only clothes were his black silk pajama bottoms, his head in his hands. Helen took another deep breath, steadying herself. She'd been lying by his side less than two hours ago and before that….she shook her head, burying her feelings. There wasn't time for that. Not now.

John bolted upright when they entered, anxious and upset. He wanted to run to her, wrap his arms around her, tell her it was all a horrible accident, but he knew from the look on her face, her demeanor, that she wasn't ready to hear it. She had assumed the worst about him, that the Ripper had returned, and part of him was afraid she may be right.

"How is Henry? How is he? Helen?" he pleaded.

"He'll be fine," she answered, arms crossed over her chest standing several feet away from John. "He lost a lot of blood, but he heals quickly. He'll be all right."

John collapsed back onto the cot, his legs giving out from under him, his face in his hands.

"Thank God. Thank God," he murmured. He looked up at her, tears in his eyes. "Helen, I never mean to hurt him. I…please, you must believe me. It was an accident, a terrible, terrible accident."

_God, how she wanted to believe…._

Will pulled a chair over so she could sit down. He remained standing. He was still too upset at what had happened, at his role in it, to sit. It was a small penance to pay on his part.

"Will said you came to see him yesterday, John. I need to know what's going on."

John glanced up at Will sympathetically and back to Helen. "Helen, don't blame William for this. This is my fault…."

She cut him off.

"We'll talk about that some other time, as well as why _you_ didn't tell me any of this sooner. What I need to know now is what's been happening to you and what the hell happened tonight?"

John shot a glance at Will again. Will folded his arms across his chest and nodded.

John closed his eyes.

"For the past, I'm not sure how long, 10, 14 days perhaps, I've been seeing a figure, a dark shadow, out of the corner of my eye, lurking in my peripheral vision, but when I turn to look, it's gone."

"What do you mean by shadow, John?" she asked, her voice neutral.

John shook his head. "Just that. A dark, shape, like an outline of a person. At first, I thought I was dreaming or it was some trick of the eye, but then, when it continued, and became more frequent, I began to worry. I began to think that perhaps," he hesitated. "Perhaps something was wrong with me, psychologically, or…." He stopped.

"Or what?"

He looked down at her hand, noticing for the first time that she was no longer wearing the ring he had so recently given her, and sighed "Or that I was being haunted once more, Helen. Like before."

_Haunted_…The word sent a shiver down her spine.

"I began to wonder if a creature, like the creature that had possessed me, was stalking me, waiting to take control again."

She nodded. She was afraid, terrified in fact, to ask the next question, but she had to. "I need to know, John, and I need an honest to God answer," she hesitated, staring him straight in the eyes. "Are you yourself?"

Will looked down at her, momentarily confused.

"Am I speaking to John Druitt and only John Druitt? No one else," she went on. "You know what I mean."

John nodded to her in understanding. "I do. You mean am I possessed? Is that why I attacked Henry? Has a creature possessed me again?" He stopped, and shook his head. "No, Helen. No. I would know. I remember how it was, I remember…" He closed his eyes, a look of pain crossing his face that made Helen's heart ache. "No. I am not. I swear to God, Helen I am not."

Will interrupted. "Then what happened tonight, John? Why did you attack Henry?"

John shook his head. "I didn't. Not intentionally. I assure you, it was an accident. A terrible accident." He turned to Helen. "Helen, you must believe me!"

She looked at him. "Tell us what happened, John," she said ignoring his plea, her voice low and controlled.

John nodded. "I woke up. I don't know what time it was, maybe 2 or 3. I knew I was being watched. I could feel it. I opened my eyes and I could see it, this…dark shape hovering in the corner by the wardrobe. I pretended to be asleep to try to observe it, see if I could figure out what it was, what it wanted from me. Then it moved, heading for our bed, toward you. I panicked, I opened my eyes to look at it, and it darted away across the vanity toward the door and into the sitting quarters in front of the bedchambers. After that, I just reacted. I grabbed the knife I keep in the end table and hurried after it. For a brief moment I saw it head-on in the sitting chamber next door. A tall, black, mass, the size and vague figure of a person. It just stood there, facing me, then vanished, slipping through the outer door and into the hallway. I ran through the room, threw open the door, and saw it move quickly around the corner of the hall. I ran after it knife in hand when…," he shook his head, lowering it, staring at his hands. "I ran into Henry, and when I did I stabbed him, thinking I had caught the creature. Too scared, too…I don't know what.. to think straight. To stop myself in time."

"It all happened so fast, Helen. When I looked the creature was gone and there was Henry and...Dear God…" he trailed off.

John closed his eyes, rubbing his face with his hands, blinking back tears.

"Helen, I would never hurt him. You must believe me. I…It was a horrible accident."

Helen stared at him. She wanted to believe him. With every fiber of her being she wanted to.

"Why didn't you come to me, John? Tell me about this sooner?"

John glanced up at Will and back down to Helen again.

"Because I was scared. Scared that I was either going insane or that some creature was stalking me, trying to possess me once more, but mostly…" He stopped and looked up at her, his blue eyes shining. "I was scared of losing you. Of losing all of this," he said, looking around, meaning of course the Sanctuary, his home. "I can't go back to that life again, Helen. If it comes to it, if that's what's happening, I need you to promise me, you won't let me go back."

She swallowed. They both knew what he was asking of her.

She shook her head, not able to look at John, not able to even consider what he was asking her to do. "John, Let's not get ahead of ourselves." She turned to Will. "Will? We need to run some diagnostic tests, rule out any neurological abnormalities, perhaps even optical, that could explain the reasons for John's…visions." She wasn't sure what else to call them.

"We also need to interview the residents, particularly those with empathic, telepathic, or similar abilities. We need to find out if anyone has seen or sensed anything similar to what John has described."

Will nodded.

"And we need to find Nikola Tesla," she added.

John and Will both looked at her, surprised.

"Tesla? Why?" John shot at her. Tesla was the last person he wanted to see.

"Because Nikola helped me design the drug that we're using to treat you. John. The drug we're using to keep an energy creature from invading you again during teleportation and because…he has the energy creature. The one that possessed you. That was part of the deal I made with him when he agreed to help me rid the creature from you. He got to keep it and study it as long as he promised to maintain its security."

"Magnus? "Will asked, not believing she was suggesting what he thought she was suggesting.

She paused, her face paling. "If we can't find a psychological or physiological cause for what you're experiencing, and if we can't validate the existence of some other abnormal inside the Sanctuary then…."

John stared at her, suddenly understanding where she was going. He looked like a man just sentenced to death.

"We have to find out if the drugs are working. And I can think of only one way to completely establish that," she said, not able to look at John.

"Magnus, you can't possibly suggest we…" Will started, but Magnus interrupted him.

"I do, Will. If all else fails, we release the energy creature and see if it can repossess John. If it does, we have our answer."

_(to be continued)_


	4. Chapter 4: Revelations

**Author's Note:** Tesla time! I own nothing of Sanctuary or its characters. My words, however, are my own. Thanks to MajorSam for her beta. Enjoy! AND PLEASE REVIEW! I desperately need feedback! (Needy much?) :)

**The Shadow Men  
**Chapter 4: Revelations

Nikola Tesla sat in the wing chair of Helen Magnus' office with his hands clasped, index fingers pointed to the sky, and his face in rapt contemplation.

"Blood work? Physiological tests?" he demanded.

"All normal," Helen answered, leaning against the front of her desk, her navy blue skirt and jacket perfectly pressed. Her long, dark hair was pulled back with a silver clasp.

"Neurological exams?"

Will Zimmerman slumped on the couch looking discouraged, head resting on his hand.

"Nothing."

"Interviews with other inmates?" Tesla queried.

"Residents," Magnus corrected him.

"Whatever. Well?"

She shook her head. "No one has seen or felt anything abnormal. Well, anything that shouldn't be here, that is," she clarified.

"Hmmm…," Tesla murmured. "What about damage to the optical nerve? Glaucoma? Some other kind of eye disease? Maybe he's literally seeing things?"

Helen shook her head again. "His eyes are fine. There are no anomalies of any kind."

Tesla paused, thinking. "Well, he is Johnny. Perhaps he's simply insane?" Nikola looked up and grinned, his eyes twinkling.

Helen sighed.

"No," Will answered. "I don't believe that. I worked with him before the onset of this and again now. He's not delusional. Not yet," he added quietly.

"Then what about already possessed? Maybe there was more than one abnormal hitchhiking a ride aboard John before we even started the drug therapy? Hell, maybe there were several? Did you think of that?" Tesla looked at Helen.

"Yes, we thought of that," she replied, shifting her weight, crossing her arms and legs. "He's not possessed, Nikola. I know it. Will agrees."

"No offense, Helen, but you were never very good at spotting Jack in John. You had a bit of a, shall we say, blind spot in that regard?"

Helen shot him a searing look. Nikola shrugged and turned to Will.

"You don't believe he's possessed either, William?"

Will shook his head.

Tesla sighed. "So, you've ruled out the obvious. What's left?" he asked, arms open wide in question, the sleeves of his crisp, white shirt riding up his wrists.

Helen stared at him. "The drug. The drug we created to prevent abnormals from latching onto John during teleportation. The shadow he's seeing…"

"He's still seeing it a week after the incident with Heinrich? He's still the only one who has seen it?" Nikola interrupted.

"Yes," Helen replied. "He's afraid it's a creature stalking him, wanting to possess him. I'm fearful of that as well. I'm worried, Nikola, that the drug is starting to fail and is now attracting creatures or a creature to him during his teleportations."

Nikola nodded his head, considered her theory, and then arrived at a conclusion. "Well that's ridiculous. It's obviously not the drug," he announced.

Will and Helen both looked at him. "Why?" they asked simultaneously.

"Because I created it, and the things I create work."

Magnus laughed derisively. Will shook his head in disbelief.

"I'm not joking here, kids. We tested the drug, Helen, you and I. It worked. I have no reason to believe its efficacy should deteriorate over time. Nothing in our tests indicated that."

"No, but then again no one has ever used this drug except for John. It's not like we have a significant data set to rely on, Nikola. Really," Helen shot back.

"Fine," Tesla agreed. "Let's pretend, just for a moment, that you're right, preposterous though it might be, that the drug has lost its effectiveness…and I'm seriously stretching my imagination here…."

Helen rolled her eyes.

"What's your approach? Last time we tested it using the electromagnetic frequencies emitted by the creature to see if they affected John's cellular structure. Are you suggesting we do the same again?"

"Not exactly," Will mumbled looking warily at Magnus.

The tension in the room ratcheted up a notch.

"Okay, what is it you two aren't telling me?" Tesla demanded, pointing his finger at Will then Helen.

"You still have the energy creature?" Helen inquired.

Nikola dipped his head. "I do, although I haven't learned a damned thing from it. Kind of a bad trade on my part. In that regard it's utterly like John. All bluster and no substance. Why?"

"Because I want to release it, in a test environment with John, to see if it can reattach itself to him physically," she answered.

Nikola paused for a moment and then laughed out loud, his head thrown back in the air, hands clapping. "Oh, Helen, that is rich. And here I thought _I _was the one who detested John! You're supposed to be in love with him. Things not going well between you two?" he joked.

"She's serious," Will remarked, looking grim.

Tesla whipped his head around and stared at Helen. "You're serious?" he repeated.

She clenched the desk, her knuckles white. "I can't think of any other way to be completely, one hundred percent sure a creature is not trying to repossess him, turn him back into…a monster."

Tesla stood up and walked over to Magnus, flinging his dark jacket behind his back and placing his hands on his hips, his face grave.

"And I can think of at least a dozen, Helen. What the hell are you thinking?"

He stood right in front of her, staring into her wide, blue eyes. He could see it clear as day. He didn't need her to answer. Helen Magnus was scared. Terrified, in fact. Frightened beyond imagining that John was on the verge of slipping back into Jack, if he hadn't done so already, and she'd do anything to stop it.

Nikola sighed, reached out, and put a hand on her arm. "That's one approach, Helen," he suggested softly. "Why don't we try a few others first, shall we? You always had a tendency to go for broke. It's part of your charm. But really, there's no need to be quite so drastic out of the gate, don't you agree?"

Will watched as Tesla talked Magnus down from the ledge. She was so scared, so frightened that she might lose the man she loved, she was willing to risk losing the man she loved to prevent it.

Helen nodded.

"Good," Nikola smiled, shooting a quick, understanding glance toward Will.

"Like it or not, I think it's time I say hello to Johnny."

* * *

Helen led them to a secured section of rooms on the second floor of the Sanctuary. Not quite prison cells, but not exactly guest quarters either. The area could only be accessed with a pass card, and the rooms, six of them, were locked with individual keypads.

Tesla turned to Will and asked, "He's still under lock and key?"

Will nodded. "Magnus insisted."

"Interesting," Nikola said to himself, eyeing Helen a bit closer as she walked a few steps ahead of them. "Nothing like attempted murder to put a strain on a relationship."

Magnus knocked on the door, heard a soft, "Come in," and then punched in the key code. When she opened it, she found John stretched out on the bed, hands folded behind his head, talking to Kate Freelander who was sitting in a chair beside him, her jean clad legs resting on the edge of the mattress.

Druitt glanced at Helen, a forlorn look in his eye, then turned to Tesla and quickly smiled. "Well, well, Nikola Tesla. I see the Calvary has arrived. Tell me Nikola, did you enjoy your stay in the Magic Kingdom?"

"John…" Helen warned.

Nikola flipped his coat back and put a hand on his hip, wrapping his other hand around John's mahogany bed post.

"Oh, who doesn't enjoy being teleported and tied up in the world's most excruciating amusement park ride for 72 hours. Let's just say that whenever I hear, 'It's A Small World,' and I hear it often in my nightmares now, I think of you."

Druitt laughed. "Serves you right old boy for putting Helen in harm's way with that vampire Kulkukan. To think you had the nerve to lure her there under false pretenses…"

"Gentlemen!" Magnus interrupted. "We can discuss what happened in Guatemala later. Right now, Nikola is here to help." She turned and looked at Kate, a serious expression on her face. "And while you two get reacquainted, I'd like a word with Kate. Can you join me outside for a moment please?"

"Sure." Kate responded warily. She turned to Druitt and patted him on the knee. "Hang in there, Johnny. I'll come check on you later. Maybe I'll even let you try and win back the money you lost in our poker game," she winked.

"Always a pleasure losing my hard earned money to you, Miss Freelander," John waved goodbye.

Kate followed Helen out into the hallway. When the door closed, Helen turned.

"What the hell were you thinking being alone in there with him?" Helen asked, hands on her hips, her voice scolding.

"He's not going to hurt me, Doc. He's not going to hurt anyone," Kate countered. Yeah, the boss had told her she didn't want anyone being alone with Druitt until they knew what was going on, but damn it! It was like he had the plague or something. It just wasn't right, and it wasn't helping him to get any better, that was for sure.

"He hurt Henry, and I'll be damned if I let him touch another member of my staff. Your safety is MY responsibility!"

"Biggie is watching!" Kate threw her hands up in the air pointing at a security camera in the corner of the hall. "The whole place is monitored 24/7. If anything happened, which it's not, he'd be right here to help."

"And he would be too late!" Helen yelled.

Kate stepped back, folded her arms across her chest, and stared at Magnus. "It was an accident, what happened. Even Hank believes that. Something is happening to John. He's not possessed, he's not insane, and he's NOT the Ripper, no matter what you think!"

Helen jerked her head up at that.

"He's seeing something we can't see. Why? I don't have a clue. But you of all people should believe in him. You're supposed to love him, for God's sake! And hey, I've never been in love, so I can't talk, but I thought when someone loved someone they tried to help them work through their problems, not lock them up in a room and forget about them."

Magnus' eyes flashed with anger.

"What do you think I've been doing this past week, Kate? Twiddling my thumbs? No! I've been running every test imaginable to find out what's wrong with him!" she shouted.

"Exactly!" Kate yelled back.

Magnus drew up at that, confused.

"What do you mean?"

Kate took a deep breath. "You're so busy running tests to prove that something's _wrong. _Why does anything have to be wrong with him? John's unique, right? He's like nobody else, right? Nobody except for maybe…." she hesitated, "Ashley."

Helen flinched at her dead daughter's name.

"Maybe his ability makes him the only one that can see…whatever it is that he's seeing, because somehow it operates on his plane? You're so scared that whatever is happening to him is going to turn him into a monster, has turned him into a monster, that he's going insane just worrying about it. What if what he's seeing isn't harmful? What if it just wants to talk? What if John's the only one it can talk to?"

Helen paused at that. Was Kate right? The moment she saw John standing over Henry, knife in hand, she had assumed the worst, assumed that the monster that had stolen him away from her a century ago was back. Was she trying to prove his innocence or prove his guilt?

Before she could answer herself, a crash erupted from John's room. Helen rushed to the door, punched in the code, and yanked it open. She raced in, Kate on her heels.

John cowered in the corner, hands clawing the wall behind him. His eyes were wild, his face full of fear. The end table and lamp by his bedside lay broken on the floor. Will was bent down, talking to him, trying to calm him. John pointed toward the other side of the room, yelling, "Don't you see it? Can't you see it?"

Magnus turned. They all did. There was nothing there.

"Nikola, what happened?"

"We were talking and then he just…" Tesla shrugged, turning to look in the direction that John was staring.

"Can you sense anything? Anything at all?" she asked. Nikola could hear the desperation in Helen's voice.

He shook his head. "No. Nothing."

Magnus walked over to John and bent down next to Will.

"I can't get him to respond to me, Magnus." Then Will leaned over and whispered in her ear so that only she could hear him. "Magnus, if he's not insane, he's going to get there soon. We have to do something."

Magnus looked at her protégé and nodded, then turned back to her lover. She reached her hand out and gently laid it on his leg. He started at her touch, but wouldn't tear his eyes away from whatever monster he saw or thought he saw.

"John? Can you hear me? It's Helen," she said softly.

Her voice, her name, brought him back to himself. He tilted his head to look at her, the fear in his face diminishing.

"Helen?"

"Yes," she smiled.

"Help me….Please."

John's voice cracked. He closed his eyes and sank against the wall, and Helen's heart sank with him.

* * *

Nikola Tesla flipped through the chart in his hand, shaking his head in disgust. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing!" he rumbled, voice raised, tossing the papers onto Helen's desk.

"We've run every diagnostic test on John we can think of. We've ruled out Pareidolia, Hypnagogia, the drug, the environment, etcetera, etcetera," Tesla said ticking the possibilities off on his fingers one by one. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Helen, there's nothing there. I'm afraid he's simply…"

"John is not delusional! Or insane. Or whatever other word you were going to use, Nikola. We have to try my idea. The only way we can know with any certainty that the drug is working properly is to set the energy creature free in a controlled environment where we can…"

Tesla threw his hands up into the air. "We can what? Infect John again? Your Sanctuary? You enjoyed having Jack the Ripper around so much you want him back?"

Helen wanted to smack him. "Of course not! I'm only suggesting…."

"I've got another idea," said a female voice from across the room.

Magnus and Tesla turned to see Kate Freelander standing in the doorway, the Big Guy by her side. Tesla folded his arms across his chest and sneered. "What could Beauty and the Beast come up with that great minds haven't already thought of?"

Kate turned to Biggie. "Come on, Big Guy, let's show 'em." They walked into Magnus' office, and Biggie handed Helen a stack of DVDs.

"**Operational Paranormal?"** she asked, bewildered.

"This one," Biggie said, tapping the back of the DVD case. "Episode 18."

Magnus turned the case over and read the description, then looked up at him and down at Kate. "_The Shadow Men_?" She frowned. "You can't be serious."

"Shadow Men are dark, humanoid figures that are mostly seen in peripheral vision. That's exactly what's happening to Johnny. This episode is exactly what he's seeing!" Kate argued.

Tesla laughed.

"Kate," Magnus said indulgently. "I know you want to help John, but these Shadow People, Men, Folk, whatever you want to call them are just popular paranormal mythology not…," she glanced down at the episode description and quoted it, "_Ghosts, aliens, time travelers, or possibly interdimensional beings_."

Tesla was holding his stomach, cackling behind them.

"This phenomenon is easily explained by overactive imaginations and neurological science," Magnus concluded.

"Really?" Kate countered, tilting her head. "Then what explains what Johnny's seeing? Because it looks to me like you guys haven't figured that out yet."

Nikola stopped laughing.

"Look, boss, you may think this is utter crap, and maybe it is, but before you go and zap Johnny with the energy creature, can you at least give it a shot?"

"I don't believe in ghosts, Kate," Magnus replied, stone faced.

"Yeah, and I didn't believe in Sasquatch once either, but here he is!" she said, slapping Biggie on the back. "No offense."

"None taken," Biggie replied.

Helen looked back and forth between the two of them, then down at the DVD, tapping it with her fingernail. What did she have to lose?

"What do you propose?" she asked Kate.

"Helen, you can't be serious!" Tesla butted in.

Magnus held up her hand to quiet him. Nikola sighed dramatically and made a little zipper motion with his fingers over his lips.

"I have a friend. She's…sensitive," Kate said sheepishly.

"A psychic, you mean?" Helen asked, playing along.

"Yeah…," Kate paused, reading Magnus' skepticism. "She's not a flake or anything, honest. She just…sees stuff, feels stuff other people can't. She doesn't know why. I'd like her to visit John. See if she can pick up on anything we haven't."

Magnus folded her arms over her chest, took a deep breath, and nodded. "Fine. Call your friend. We'll give it a go."

Kate smiled wildly. "All right!" She turned on her heel with Biggie in tow. "See, I told you she'd buy it," Magnus heard her saying as they hurried out into the hallway.

Tesla sauntered up to Magnus and put his arm around her shoulder. "Ghostbusters, Helen?"

"Desperate times, desperate measures, Nikola," she sighed. "Desperate measures, indeed," she muttered to herself.

* * *

Cynthia Groesbeck didn't look like a psychic. She looked like a model. Five foot ten, late twenties, with light brown hair down to her shoulders. She was dressed professionally in fashionable slacks and a light blue blouse and wasn't at all the kind of woman Helen Magnus would pick as one of Kate's friends.

"Where did you say you met her again?" Magnus asked.

"Karate class a few years back," Kate answered.

"Hmm," was all Magnus managed.

"Look, boss, I know you think this is a lame idea, but Cindy's not a scammer. Trust me. I should know."

Magnus turned to her. "And what have you told her about us? Our work? John?"

Kate shook her head, her dark locks bobbing. "Not much. Only that we were a scientific research institute and that one of our employees has been seeing things he can't explain. Hey, I know the drill; The more you tell them, the more they can put you on, but she's not…"

"A scammer," Magnus interrupted. "Yes, I know."

Kate and Magnus watched as Cindy wandered the library. Nikola and Will were bringing John to meet them there.

"There's a lot of energy in this place," Cindy commented, stopping and turning around.

Magnus turned and rolled her eyes at her younger companion.

Cindy smiled. "I know, it sounds cliché. But it's true. There's a tremendous amount of energy here. I don't necessarily mean paranormal. In fact…I can't exactly place what kind of energy it is. It's just, abnormal."

Kate grinned at Magnus. "Didn't tell her a word."

Magnus frowned.

"Dr. Magnus? Did I get that right?" Cindy asked, walking back to the two of them.

"Yes."

"I don't need to be a psychic to read people. I can tell you're skeptical about me, and I don't blame you," she said, pointing to herself, her hazel eyes shining. "This…gift…ability, whatever you want to call it, isn't something I asked for or talk to many people about, but if it helps people, then I don't think it's such a bad thing. That's all I want to do, help."

Magnus smiled at her. Her manservant was Big Foot, her boyfriend was Jack the Ripper, and her oldest friend was a former vampire. Honestly, who was she to judge?

"I appreciate that Ms. Groesbeck, and I apologize for any doubts you may have…sensed."

Cindy nodded. "Apology accepted."

The door to the library opened and Will Zimmerman, John Druitt, and Nikola Tesla walked in.

John was dressed in jeans and a loose fitting blue shirt that accentuated his eyes, Helen thought. He looked handsome, trim, and fit. Since his episode three days ago, Magnus had spent as much time with him as she could, not to run tests, just to be near him. Her presence grounded John, kept him settled. Today she had put back on the ring he'd given her. Kate had been right. She'd been hiding from him, scared of what he might turn back into. But if she loved him, and she did, this was an unknown they had to face together. _"In sickness and in health," _she mused. That was the promise she had been prepared to make so many years ago, and it was a vow she intended to keep now.

John turned and looked at Helen as he entered. She never failed to take his breath away. She could be dressed in her most expensive cocktail dress or nothing at all, make up perfect or covered in mud, her hair tossed back or in a pony tail. It didn't matter. She was the most beautiful woman in the world to him and always would be. Her mere presence calmed him.

Just as he thought this he caught a glint of light reflecting from her hand. She wore his ring. She hadn't last night when she'd come to visit him. They'd eaten dinner together, then talked for a while. It had become late, she was tired, so was he, so they laid together in his bed, just to rest, just to be near one another, when one thing led to another, and they made love.

How easily one thing led to another for them it seemed…

He slept, restfully, for the first time in weeks. All because of her.

Helen was introducing them to the psychic, the woman Kate had asked to bring in. He was dubious of her plan, but Miss Freelander wanted so much to help him. He didn't have the heart to refuse, and at this point, he had nothing to lose.

Cindy finished meeting with Will and Nikola then reached out to shake John's hand but froze, her brow furrowed.

"You're the one I'm here about, aren't you?" she asked.

John nodded. "I am."

She took his hand and held it, closing her eyes, her face in pain.

"You've seen darkness in your life…tremendous darkness."

John started to wrench his hand free, when she reached up and pulled him back.

"No, please," Cindy reassured him. "It's all right. There's no darkness in you now, although that's what you fear. You fear it will return."

John nodded. "Yes," was all he could manage.

"Come sit with me," she said.

She led John over to a small couch and sat next to him, holding his hand gently in hers. Helen, Will, Nikola, and Kate stood at a table a few feet away, watching.

Cindy took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She was silent for a long time, John thought. Or maybe it only seemed long. Could she really sense the evil that had been in him? Was that what was haunting him now?

"It wants to speak to you...It can only speak to you," she said, her eyes closed.

John looked up at Helen, unsure how to respond. "What?" Helen answered for him, stepping forward. "What wants to speak to him?"

"The shadow that haunts you. You're afraid of it, but I sense no hate, no evil, only…fear, confusion and…." She stopped suddenly, opening her eyes, realization dawning. "She's lost," she told him.

Helen's heart began pounding in her chest.

_She? It was impossible…_ Helen thought.

Helen looked at John and he at her, both of them thinking the same thing, both of them knowing what they were thinking was impossible. John looked back at Cindy, gripping her hand tight.

"Who? Who's lost? Who is trying to speak to me? Tell me."

Cindy closed her eyes again, concentrating, and then nodded.

"The girl... Ashley," she answered him.

_(To be continued)_


	5. Chapter 5: Death Shall Have No Dominion

**The Shadow Men  
**Chapter 5: Death Shall Have No Dominion

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: There are two movie quotes buried in this chapter. Can you name what they are? Put it in your review, and if you're the first to get it right, you'll win…uh…my unending thanks for your review AND, if you'd like, a story of your choosing from me. Just send me a prompt. (Hoo-boy…). Thanks for reading!_

"Mom?"

Helen Magnus looked up over the top of her lap top and smiled.

Ashley Magnus' long, blonde hair swung from side to side like a pendulum as she crossed the room to Helen's desk. Her daughter's black leather pants and jacket were dusty from the evening's hunt. Her blue eyes bubbled with amusement. When she reached the table, she put her hands on her hips, gazed down at her mother, and grinned.

"You should have seen me bag that ghoul tonight, Mom, it was classic! And Henry said I had lost my touch. Ha!"

Helen sat back in the chair and laughed. Henry would say such a thing. They'd been needling each other like brother and sister since they were small. Why should that change now? She was glad it hadn't.

"And John? Did he go with you?" Helen tried to hide the nervousness she felt. She wanted so much for her daughter to like him, to see in John what she saw in him, an intelligent, strong, passionate man, not the ruthless killer he once was. Truth was she didn't know what Ashley thought of him or of them being together. Everything had happened so fast, her daughter's return so sudden, that they hadn't had a chance to talk about it. Not yet.

"Yeah, he came along. John's…," Ashley paused and looked at Helen, her expression softening as her blue eyes met her mothers. "Dad's good. Really good."

_Dad._

The simple word caught Helen off guard and a sudden lump lodged in her throat. Tears formed in her eyes. She closed them. It was too much. Having Ashley back again, having them together like this, like a family, was a dream come true. It was a…

Magnus' eyes flashed open to see Ashley staring down at her. Her bright blue eyes now an eerie, unnatural yellow. Her smile had vanished. In its place was a malicious sneer. She stood still and lifeless. When she opened her mouth to speak, Dana Whitcomb, director of Cabal operations and the woman who had transformed her daughter into the Superabnormal monster she had become, spoke, her voice echoing throughout the room and in Magnus' head.

"Sometimes dead is better," she laughed.

* * *

"Helen… Helen!"

John Druitt leaned over Magnus' trembling body, shaking her shoulders until she woke up, her skin drenched in sweat. She opened her eyes and stared at him, working to pull herself back into consciousness. Her heart raced. Her breathing was ragged and uneven.

"John?" She reached her arm out to touch his bare chest, to ensure he was real. She could barely make out his lean form in the moonlight that streamed in from their bedroom window. He put his hand over hers. With the other he brushed the hair out of her eyes, stroking her long, dark locks.

"You were having a nightmare, Helen," he said softly. "You were yelling in your sleep," he trailed off. She nodded, took a moment to compose herself, and then pushed herself up to a sitting position. She reached across the mattress and switched on the small lamp on her nightstand. Her eyes blinked as they adjusted to the dim light.

John put his hand out and wiped her cheeks. She touched her hands to her face and realized she'd been crying.

"Was it the same dream?" he asked gently.

She nodded. "Yes."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She smiled inside at that. He'd become a very modern man in the past century or so. She shook her head. "No. Not really." She leaned back against the mahogany headboard, the pillows lodged unevenly against her back.

John sat up alongside her. The strap of Helen's nightgown had slipped down onto her arm. He reached out with his finger and eased the lavender ribbon back up over her shoulder, settling his hand on her smooth skin.

"Helen, we don't have to do this. There's a very real possibility, probability in fact, that Miss Grosbeck was wrong, lying even."

"Is that what you think?"

John paused and took a breath. "I don't know. I don't know what to think. I haven't seen the shadow in three days, since she was here." He saw Helen's face sink at that. "I want to believe as much as you that it is Ashley. That somehow a part of her still exists, but…"

"But what?"

"I don't know if I'm prepared to suffer the disappointment if it isn't," he said quietly. "More than that, I don't know if I could bear seeing you suffer it."

She looked down at her hands. He was right. The probability that this was all some elaborate hoax, coincidence, whatever, seemed high. But what if it wasn't?

"Cindy said she could sense Ashley's presence, her emotions, her intentions, but that for some reason she was unable to communicate with her. What if that's because Ashley isn't dead? What if I was right all along, John, and she escaped the EM field? Nikola said it's possible that something happened to her in transit that left her in a permanent state of limbo, a kind of energy mass, unable to transform back into matter. What if after all this time she's finally found her way home?"

John bit his lip. He could hear the desperation, the hope building in Helen's voice.

"Then why would she try to communicate with me and not you, Helen?" he argued, trying to get her to stop and think logically about the situation. "She barely knows me. And what she does know of me is not good." It pained him to say it, but it was true.

Helen swallowed hard. "I've thought about that. You and Ashley are far more alike than either one of you cared to recognize. Kate was the one who saw it. What if you're the only one shecan talk to? Because of the unique physiology she shares with you? You both have the ability to teleport, to transform from matter into pure energy. John, you may be the only one she _can_ communicate with!"

He knew how much this meant to her, but they had worked so hard to push past Ashley's death. Losing a child was hard enough. Losing that child twice would be unbearable.

He sighed. "You want me to approach it, the shadow, and try to communicate with it."

Helen nodded. "Cindy said that's what it wanted."

John took a deep breath. "What if she's wrong, Helen? What if it isn't Ashley at all. What if it's…something else?"

They both knew exactly what he meant.

Helen paused. "I know. It's a risk, and ultimately it's your choice. But if there's a chance, even a remote chance that it's our daughter…"

John nodded. "Then there is no choice. I agree."

* * *

Henry Foss looked down with a teacher's sense of pride as his pupil, John Druitt, confidently tapped the computer tablet, completing a scan of the Sanctuary's security settings.

"Excellent!" Henry smiled when he'd finished. "You're really getting the hang of this. Are you sure you weren't a techie geek in a former life?" Foss teased.

Druitt laughed. "If by 'techie geek' you mean adept at cricket and weaponry? Then yes, I was and am a techie geek."

Henry snorted. John took the moment to consider him. Three weeks ago the young man had been lying in the infirmary mistakenly stabbed by him in his terror over the shadow creature. Today, he was sitting by his side as though nothing had happened, teaching him the intricacies of the Sanctuary's software systems.

"Mr. Foss…Henry," John started.

"Yeah," he answered absently, frowning at something on the monitor.

"I want to apologize again for what happened. I can assure you that I would never intentionally harm you. I was distraught and so intent on apprehending the creature that when I came around the corner that night…"

Henry put his hand on John's shoulder. "John, we've been over this a hundred times. It was an accident. I know that. You were scared. I get it. Really, I'm okay. We're okay."

Druitt let go of a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "You are a most forgiving man, Mr. Foss."

Henry tilted his head. "Eh, life's short. There is one thing you could do for me though…"

John nodded. "Certainly. What is it?"

"Call me Henry. Mr. Foss is, I dunno," Henry shook himself like he'd just been doused with ice water. "Just makes me itchy, ya know?"

John grinned. "Sorry, old habits. Henry it is."

"And how are you two getting along?"

The men turned to see Magnus walk in, her dark hair hung loose around her shoulders cascading down her blue blouse. She smiled at them, but there was a heaviness in her eyes that was unmistakable. The more she wanted John to see the shadow figure again, the more it seemed to stay away. It was one more thing he felt guilty about.

"John's getting his geek on. Next thing you know he'll be beating me at Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood," Henry quipped, trying to lighten the mood.

John stared at him blankly. "Assassins' what?"

Magnus grinned and walked over to them. John and Henry. In another life they could have been like father and son. If only….She stopped herself. Her obsession over the shadow creature somehow being Ashley was becoming just that, an obsession. Even Will had expressed concern over it. John hadn't seen the figure in over a week now, and for his sake, she was glad it had disappeared. Maybe it was just a figment of his imagination after all. A physical manifestation of stress, as Will referred to it. But part of her, the selfish part, the part that hoped beyond hope for a miracle, wished it would return. Her love for her child superseded all, even her love for John.

It was then she noticed it, the change in John's expression. Druitt was no longer looking at her or Henry but at a corner of the room, his eyes mixed with fear and expectation.

"John?"

"It's here," he answered quietly.

Magnus' heart sped up. She glanced at Henry who sat perfectly still, holding his breath.

"Do you see anything?" she whispered.

Henry shook his head.

She resisted the urge to turn around and look at whatever John saw, scared she might frighten it away. But if it was her daughter…

"John…"

"I know," he nodded. He rose slowly, handing Henry the tablet in one swift, silent motion as he did so.

"Where is it?" Magnus asked, still keeping her eyes locked with his.

"The far corner of the room."

"Can you look at it straight on?" In most of his encounters with the entity he could only see it fleetingly, out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes," he said softly. He glanced down at Helen. "I'm going to try."

She nodded, reached out, and squeezed his arm. He smiled briefly at her. She knew how much he feared this. She did as well. If the psychic was wrong, if it wasn't Ashley…. She closed her eyes, saying a silent prayer to whatever gods might be listening that it was.

John walked slowly, cautiously, toward the edge of the room. If this was somehow his daughter, her energized body, even her soul, he needed to know. More importantly, Helen needed to know. If it wasn't, if it was what he feared the most, an energy creature returned to possess him...He stopped, shutting that thought out of his mind. He'd been thinking he needed to do this for Helen, but as he walked toward the mysterious entity he realized with sudden clarity that he needed to do this for himself as well. Until he faced the creature, whatever it was, he would never be free of its darkness.

Druitt moved toward the murky shape hovering like a black void in the recesses of the room. He heard a faint rustle of clothes behind him and knew that Helen had turned around and was watching him as was Henry. The shadow didn't move, didn't waver. It stood motionless, absorbing all light.

He approached it slowly, step by step. When he was within a few feet of it, he stopped. Should he say something? Talk to it? Try to communicate? Or should he physically approach it, touch it?

He started to reach out his hand when the figure shimmered as though it might flee.

"No, stay! Please." he called out anxiously. It seemed to hesitate a moment. "I don't mean you any harm. I need to know who you are, what you are. What it is that you want." It remained motionless, vaguely humanoid now in shape. "Ashley?" John finally whispered his voice cracking. "Is it you?"

Suddenly the figure rushed toward him. He instinctively stepped back but not before it moved through his body. The surge of energy that hit him was like a gust of wind. As quickly as it passed into him, it moved out. The sensation caught him so off guard, left him so overwhelmed, he didn't have a chance to turn and warn her. As he did, all he could see was the shadowy figure moving on, heading straight toward Helen. She couldn't see it. Wouldn't know what was about to happen.

"Helen!" was all he could manage before the wall of blackness hit her.

* * *

Magnus watched as John walked cautiously toward the corner of Henry's lab and stopped, speaking in a hushed tone to what looked like empty space. Suddenly he jumped back, as though something had threatened him. She darted toward him, afraid that the entity had attacked him, possessed him, when he turned and called her name, the oddest expression on his face.

Suddenly a wave of unseen energy passed through her, a wash of warmth and light so achingly familiar her body trembled from the touch. As quickly as it moved into her, it moved out, and she was left with an emptiness that brought her to her knees with joy and grief.

"Doc!"

Henry jumped down from his stool and rushed to Magnus' side. John ran over and dropped to his knees in front of her holding her by the shoulders to keep her from completely collapsing.

"Helen?"

She looked up at him, her blue eyes wide.

"She moved through me, John! My God, I felt her. _I can smell her!" _She reached down and caressed the sleeve of her shirt like she was stroking a child's hair. _"_It was her! Ashley! Smell my clothes, John," Helen said, tugging at her white blouse, tears streaming down her cheeks. "She's on me…She's all over me. I felt her. It's my baby!"

John looked over at Henry. He knelt beside Magnus but was staring at Druitt.

"John?" he whispered, his voice choked, his eyes red with tears.

Druitt pulled Helen into his arms and nodded, struggling to keep his own tears at bay.

"It's her, Henry. It's our daughter."

* * *

Nikola Tesla tapped the end of his pencil against his right hand, thinking. He didn't believe in ghosts or souls or any other superstitious nonsense. He did, however, believe in science. If what Helen and John had experienced was indeed Ashley Magnus, there was a reasonable, if not abnormal, explanation for it. One which did not include it being Ashley's 'aura' or her 'life force' floating about the Sanctuary halls like that overly dramatic Cindy Grosbeck had suggested. God forbid!

"You said you felt something like an energy wave pass through you, but you were unable to communicate with it?" Nikola asked John.

"Yes," he nodded in agreement. Helen sat on the couch beside him. Will, Henry, Kate, and Big Guy stood or sat quietly nearby. They had all gathered in Helen's office to listen to what had happened and help, if they could, solve the mystery of the Shadow Men once and for all.

"Heinrich, did you see anything?" Tesla shot at him.

"No," Henry shook his head. "Not a thing but…" he stopped.

"What?" Tesla asked, urging him on.

Henry looked over at Magnus. "The look on Doc's face…I just knew."

Tesla sighed. _Knowing, sensing, feeling_ were all rather intangible. Usually he could count on Helen to help him ferret out the truth, be the objective one, but in her current, emotional state, she was of little to no help at all. It appeared that he would have to lead this investigation. Why the burden always fell on him to pick up the pieces and develop a solution he didn't know. The yoke of genius, he surmised.

"Helen," he turned to her again. He wasn't a medical doctor, so he couldn't be sure, but he was almost positive she was in some kind of shock.

After a moment, she looked up at him. Her eyes were red, presumably from crying, and oddly distant. She clung tightly to Druitt, their hands interlaced together in a desperate lock. There were many things Nikola Tesla understood, but love, especially this bizarre, unnatural attraction Helen had for John, was an enigma he would never solve. Druitt was tall. That was all he had ever concluded. She seemed to be attracted to tall.

"You said you felt her? What did you mean?"

"I'm sorry, Nikola, what did you say?" Helen mumbled.

Tesla took a deep breath. He didn't have a child. Had no urge to procreate. Yet he was intelligent enough to fathom what the loss of a child would mean to a parent. And he knew Helen well enough to know how deeply it had affected her despite her valiant efforts to hide it. She'd never gotten over it. If anyone thought otherwise they were a fool.

He walked over to her and knelt down by her side so he could look her in the eye and make sure she understood.

"I need you to focus, Helen. If you're right, if what you and John experienced is indeed Ashley, I need your help in bringing her back. Help me, Helen."

That was all it took. Magnus' eyes cleared and her back straightened. She took a deep breath and exhaled, expulsing whatever thoughts and regrets she had been contemplating for the past hour.

"Right," she replied, her voice strong. She untangled her hand from John's . "What do you need to know?"

Nikola smiled. This was the Helen Magnus he knew and loved. All business and ready to conquer the world. He stood up and walked back over to Magnus' desk, picking up his file.

"You said you could feel her. What did you mean?"

Helen stood up and followed him, her hands clasped tightly together in thought.

"I don't know exactly. I'm not sure how to explain it, Nikola. She didn't communicate with me, not verbally, but when she passed through me I could feel her presence, for lack of a better term. It was almost like an electronic vibration or echo of her physical being. John?"

Druitt nodded. "I agree. I can't think of any other way to describe it."

"Yeah, but how do we get her back?" Kate asked, sitting on the arm of the sofa next to Henry. "If it is her, what exactly _is_ she?"

"She's matter converted to pure energy. Just like Johnny here is when he…" Tesla stopped suddenly, his eyes wide.

Magnus squinted at him. "Nikola?"

Tesla smiled. "That's it! My God. Why is everything so incredibly simple?"

Kate leaned over and whispered to Biggie. "Mad scientist speak or what?"

The Big Guy shrugged.

Tesla pointed at Druitt. "She's like you when you convert to energy to teleport, John. Problem is she's in stasis, she can't convert back. But you can."

Helen looked from Nikola to John and back again comprehension spreading across her face.

"Of course! That's why she's been trying to contact you. You can pull her out!"

John stood up. "How?

"By teleporting with her. Just like you do when you teleport with one of us. If you can transform us into energy and back into matter, you can do it with Ashley," Helen said excitedly.

"Precisely," Tesla smiled, leaning back against Helen's desk, his arms folded triumphantly across his chest.

Henry shook his head, a smile spreading across his face. "She needs to hitch a ride. Wow. Amazing!"

"I would have phrased it more eloquently, Heinrich, but essentially, yes," Tesla frowned.

John stared at Helen. "Do you really think so? Could it be that easy? Ashley somehow trapped? Unable to rematerialize?"

Helen nodded. "I think so, yes."

"But why can't she?" Kate asked. "She was able to do it before? Why not now?"

Tesla rubbed his chin and looked from Kate to Helen.

"That is actually a very good question from the tattered jean section of our studio audience."

Kate frowned.

"There's only one way to find out," Tesla told Helen.

"Pull her out."

"Precisely."

"But how do we find her?" Helen asked, talking to herself as much as she was to her team. "If we're right, she's existing as pure energy operating on instinct more than conscious thought, correct?"

"Instinct that led her back home," Henry chimed in.

"Exactly," Tesla agreed. "We can use that instinct, her inherent knowledge that this is where she needs to be, that John is the one who can help her, to lure her to him and when she does..."

"I dematerialize with her energy form and rematerialize with Ashley intact?" John finished.

Helen nodded. "That's the theory."

"I believe your energy, your ability is what she needs to transform her back into a physical state," Tesla explained.

John rubbed his hands together. "All right. When do we start?"

"Now," Magnus answered. "Nikola, you, John, and Henry work on setting up an area where the materialization can take place. I need you to think about any risks we may be missing, to Ashley or John, in doing this. I want them both back, alive and well."

"Of course," Nikola nodded. "Gentlemen?"

The three men walked out of the room and Magnus turned to Kate.

"Kate, I need you two to prep the infirmary. We have no way of knowing what being in stasis for so long has done to Ashley physically. If this succeeds, she may need medical attention. I want the O.R. and everything in the medical area ready for any eventuality."

"You got it. C'mon Big Guy." They left.

Helen turned to Will. He'd been silent during the entire conversation. It wasn't like him. Not like him at all.

"What can I do to help?" he asked softly.

Magnus walked over to him, her high heels clicking on the floor until she stood face to face with him, taking in his bleak demeanor. "First, you can tell me what's wrong. You didn't say a word just now. That's not like you, Will."

He shrugged. "You and Tesla seemed to have it pretty much covered. There wasn't much else I could offer, can offer."

"That's where you're wrong," Magnus corrected him. "If we're right, if this succeeds, I'm going to need your help. Ashley will need your help."

Will tilted his head in query.

Magnus took a deep breath and continued, her arms folded across her chest. "I don't know which Ashley Magnus we're going to be pulling out of the ether, Will. My daughter or the monster the Cabal made her. The thought of that scares me to death. Either way, she's going to need your help. So may I, depending upon what happens."

He nodded, understanding her meaning now. "You got it."

"Good," she smiled. "Now, are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

He stood still for a moment, looking down, hands buried in his pockets, his blue shirt billowing over his white tee.

"You were right, Magnus. You were right all along."

She tilted her head. "About?"

"About Ashley. You were sure she'd gotten through the EM field. That she'd made it through somehow. You wanted to believe she was alive, search for her, and I…"

"And you supported me every step of the way in what anyone else would have thought of as a hopeless endeavor," Magnus walked closer to him and rested her hand on Will's arm. "You helped me look when even I knew I was grasping at straws. We did everything we could. If I was ultimately right, it was pure chance, Will, nothing more."

He nodded.

"I want you with me on this. I need you with me. If Ashley comes through," she stopped and corrected herself. "When Ashley comes through, I need you there."

"You can count on me," Will promised.

Helen smiled. "I know I can."

* * *

"So what's going on?" Will Zimmerman whispered to Henry as he unloaded the computer equipment outside the infirmary.

"We're going to make a call to Ash, at least, that's the plan."

Will looked at him, puzzled. "How?" he asked, automatically reaching over to help Henry lift the CPU off the cart and onto the table.

"When Druitt teleports, he emits an electrical signal unique only to him," he said, reaching behind the unit to hook it into the monitor. "Tesla and I think that Ashley, Energy Ashley, somehow locked onto John's signal, and since John is living here now at the Sanctuary…."

Will nodded. "It led her home. Wow."

Henry smiled. "Yeah. Wow is one word for it. Frak'n unbelievable is another," he paused and frowned. "Are two others. Anyway, we're going to replicate John's energy signature and boost it. See if it flushes her out."

"And then?"

Henry took a deep breath and sighed. "The rest is up to Druitt."

The door opened and Magnus walked in, Tesla and Druitt following closely behind.

"Are we ready?" she asked, her voice anxious.

"Just about," Henry replied. "Just need to boot her up." He flipped a switch, waited for the system to come up, and entered his password. "Okay," he turned to Magnus. "We're good to go."

Tesla stepped forward. "Turn on the frequency generator and set it to the preprogrammed coordinates."

Henry entered in the commands. "Done."

"Now, boost the signal 50 percent above normal."

"Boosting."

Henry looked up at Tesla. "It's ready."

"What now?" Will asked.

Tesla pulled up a chair, sat down, and opened the bottle of wine he'd packed with the computer equipment.

"We sip and we wait."

* * *

It had been over an hour since they'd started. Tesla sat in a corner drinking the last of his Chablis. Henry and Will remained at the desk monitoring the equipment and playing a game of cards. Helen and John sat off to the side, talking quietly.

"Helen…"

She was lost in thought once again. Had been since the moment she'd felt Ashley move through her.

Since then the memories of her daughter had washed over her like a waterfall. Ashley's birth in the Sanctuary with her good friend Jennifer, a mid wife, and James Watson by her side, holding her hand through each contraction….taking her first steps in Helen's office as she cruised around the furniture and suddenly let go, surprising herself almost as much as she'd surprised Helen….playing hide and seek with the Big Guy as he cleaned their home, her incessant giggles giving her away….and lying in bed together with a story, Helen stroking her daughter's hair so lightly they soon both fell asleep.

"Helen," John repeated.

She looked up at him. "Yes?"

He tilted his head, regarding her. "What are you thinking?"

She took a deep breath and exhaled. "How much I miss her," she said quietly.

John reached out and squeezed Helen's hand. "I'll bring her back."

Magnus looked up at him and smiled. "I know you'll try, John. That's all I can ask."

It was then he felt his daughter's presence. Knew she was nearby. John turned toward the door of the infirmary and saw her standing inside, a dark, vaguely humanoid mass. He let go of Helen's hand and gradually stood up, moving slowly toward the room. Carefully, he opened the door…

Helen, Will, Henry and Nikola all moved toward the observation window, watching as John methodically crossed the room moving toward one of the sick beds. He stopped, spoke so softly they couldn't hear what he said, and then slowly reached out his hand to what looked like empty air. In an instant, he transformed, vanishing as he did so.

At that moment, Nikola felt Helen slip her hand into his. He wrapped his fingers around hers and squeezed it tight in return.

Suddenly, a flash of bluish light sparkled in the air. Druitt rematerialized alone. Helen's grasp on Nikola's hand tightened. Then John turned around.

In his arms was their daughter.

Helen let go of Nikola and ran through the infirmary door, her heart pounding. John was on the floor now holding Ashley in his arms, crying.

Magnus sank to her knees beside them and looked up at John, tears streaming down his face.

"Is she alive? Helen? Is she alive?"

She reached out, her hand trembling, and felt Ashley's neck, searching for a pulse. After a moment, she found it. The heartbeat was slow but strong. "Yes…" she managed, her voice shaking. "She's alive, John. Our baby girl is alive!"

"Ashley!" she called to her daughter, holding her face in her hands. "Ashley, can you hear me?"

The young woman's eyes fluttered and Helen held her breath. Memories of her nightmare, the terrible nightmare, flooded over her. Ashley's yellow eyes, the eyes of a Cabal monster, and the voice of Dana Whitcomb echoed in her head.

"Ashley?" she called to her again. "Can you hear me? It's me. It's mom."

Suddenly, her daughter opened her eyes. When she did so, all Magnus saw were bright blue eyes staring up at her own.

"Mom?" Ashley replied weakly.

Helen wrapped her arms around her daughter and cried.

* * *

**Epilogue**

"How is she?" Nikola asked his bags in tow ready to depart the Sanctuary once more.

"She's doing well. Growing stronger every day," Helen smiled. "Will is working with her, but so far, she remembers nothing about her time with the Cabal, the attack on the Sanctuaries, her experience in stasis. She may never."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing," Nikola remarked.

Helen nodded. "No, not a bad thing at all."

"And there's still no trace of the changes they made to her DNA?"

"None whatsoever. I think you may have been right, Nikola. The weapon you made to stop the Superabnormals initiated a molecular change in Ashley. Her DNA began rejecting, throwing off, the Superabnormal DNA. It explains why she stopped them from killing me. Why she changed at the very last moment."

Nikola pursed his lips. "Unfortunately with that change came the loss of her powers. So once she teleported…"

"She was unable to transform back. She was left in limbo as pure energy," Helen finished. "It's a miracle we found her."

Tesla rolled his eyes. "I don't believe in miracles, Helen. Genius, now that's something I can get my mind wrapped around."

Helen smiled, reached up, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you, Nikola. For everything."

"So this makes us even on the Kulkukan business?" he grinned.

"Not quite, old boy," John Druitt said walking into Helen's office. "But close."

Nikola lifted his hand and shook his finger at Druitt, glaring as his former colleague approached. "Nothing, I repeat, nothing will make up for the 72 hours I spent trapped in that amusement park Hell you put me in! If I ever hear 'It's a Small World' again I swear I will…"

Druitt laughed. "Fine. Point taken. We're even." He walked up to Tesla, towering over him and reached out his hand.

"I owe you one, Tesla. You brought back my daughter, and for that, well, I owe you everything really."

Nikola looked at John then took his old friend's hand and shook it. "We'll call it even, Johnny."

Druitt nodded.

"Well then," he clasped his hands together. "I'm off."

"And where are you going? Out of curiosity." Helen inquired.

"Oh, here and there," Tesla replied, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I hear there's been a vampire sighting in my old homeland of Serbia. I may just drop by and, you know, pay a visit to the Motherland."

Helen smiled. "You'll never change, will you?"

Tesla grinned. "I doubt it. It keeps you on your toes doesn't it?"

She laughed. "Indeed it does, Nikola."

"Until next time," Tesla announced loudly, grabbing his bag and bowing ceremoniously before he left.

Helen shook her head and leaned back against her desk. Druitt nodded his goodbye to Nikola then walked up to his lover, wrapping his arms around her waist. She smiled up at him and weaved her arms around him in kind, resting her body against his solid chest.

"What are you thinking?" he whispered moving his arms to Helen's back, caressing her body in light, wide strokes.

She sighed at the touch. "How blessed I am. How blessed we are."

"Blessed?" John repeated, surprised. He stepped back so he could look at her. "That's not a word I've heard you use often."

"No. It's not," she replied thoughtfully. "But it's the only word I can think of that describes this…us…Ashley."

John smiled, put a hand to her cheek, then leaned in and laid a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Blessed." He agreed.

She smiled up at him and took his hands in hers.

"Let's go see our daughter, shall we?"

He nodded, letting Helen lead him through the door.

END


End file.
